"6 If a trumpet is blown in a city will not
the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?"
"12 For I know your transgressions are many
and your sins are great, You who distress the
righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate.
13 Therefore at such a time
the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said!
15 Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the LORD God of hosts May
be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."
Amos 3:6...5:12-15
Here in these verses God through Amos was declaring the people of Israel unrighteous, as they had turned away from Him.
This is an unrighteous world. Not all of the promises and curses that pertain to Israel mean anything for the rest of us, but the pattern is the same: God is Righteous, and man is not.
Here's the plain and simple: If you do not know and love God, through His shedding Grace and Mercy on you, you are doomed.
It doesn't matter how good a life you live, how many acts of kindness you do-you are doomed to hell.
"14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said!"
Israel said that they were with God, that they were righteous-but they were not. Reading further down in Amos:
"21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor
do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings
and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will
not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
23 “Take away from Me the
noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
24 “But let justice roll down
like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25“Did you present Me with
sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of
Israel?
26“You also carried
along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you
made for yourselves.
27“Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond
Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts."
Amos 5:21-27
Israel claimed to be with God, but were also guilty of idolatry and going after false gods.
You are no better than idolatrous Israel. You don't even have a promise that God will save you, unless you come to Him on His terms.
Give up any hope of being righteous on your own-you are doomed.
I gave up that hope over 30 years ago, and I can tell you know that if not for God's Grace and Mercy, I would be on the road to hell, too.Next time you crack a joke about self-righteous Christians (which you will do only because you are trusting in your own righteousness), know that they don't exist. There are no self righteous Christians. Easier to find unicorns in the garden.
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This post came about through two influences-a John MacArthur sermon on the parable of the wheat and tares, and I was reading Amos today at lunch.
It struck me, how the unrighteous glory in their unrighteousness.
This recent election is a good example-we re-elected a corrupt, lying man who seems to cherish many of the things which God calls evil.
As I said before the election, maybe God isn't yet done with Barack Obama. His isns are piling up higher and higher, as are the sins of an entire world which rejects God.
God has the last word.
"Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."
All you can do is sin-all He does is Holy.
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